Filing Charges No Way To Get Help

August 17, 1986

Hollywood Police Chief Richard Witt says his department charged a 10-year- old boy with attempted murder because it was the only way to get help for him from the state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services.

Witt and his staff reviewed the case, an apparent accident in which the boy critically wounded his 12-year-old brother, and decided he might need psychological counseling to cope with the long-term effects of the tragedy.

There are only three ways to get HRS attention -- allegations of child abuse, neglect or charges filed by a police agency against a juvenile.

There was no abuse or neglect involved. The boys live with their grandmother. They were being treated to an overnight outing by a family friend. While the friend was taking their sister to school, the boys found a loaded gun.

That the friend was a convicted felon who shouldn`t have had a gun only made the result -- one child near death, the other in custody -- all the more needless.

HRS, bound by state rules, is an innocent bystander.

Lynette Beal, program manager for the department`s division of Children, Youth and Families, says she doesn`t understand why the police feel HRS should be involved and why, if a charge was to be filed, it had to be attempted murder.

Witt counters that, if the shooting was ruled accidental and the investigation closed, then the relationship with the child and the chance to provide state counseling also would be ended.

When the only options are to file an attempted murder charge against a child or let him disappear through one of the many gaps in the state system, it is one more grim reminder that Florida`s approach to social services is shameful.

Witt says his department will not pursue criminal charges. Whether the case will be pressed is up to the State Attorney`s Office, pending review of information submitted by Hollywood police.

It is highly unlikely that the state attorney will find any reason to prolong the case.

So a 10-year-old, who already has much to cope with, has the burden of an unnecessary charge that he tried to kill his brother added to a devastating personal calamity.